Deal program life cycle

ABSTRACT

A deal program life cycle system and method is disclosed. The deal program life cycle may oversee the issuance of deals from a deal program to consumers over the life cycle of the deal program. One or more aspects of the deal program may change during different periods of the life cycle of the deal program. For example, the deal program may include deal features, a number of units for deals, and relevance features for the deal program. The deal features, number of units of deals, and/or relevance features for the deal program may change during the different periods of the life cycle.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 13/839,499, which claimsthe benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/707,781, filed Sep.28, 2012, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by referenceherein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present description relates to offering deals associated with aproduct or a service. This description more specifically relates to asales enhancement system for determining which deals to offer for aproduct or a service.

BACKGROUND

Merchants typically offer deals to consumers, such as promotional deals.Also, companies typically offer promotions to other companies. The dealsoffered may be in the form of discounts, rewards, or the like. Whenoffering the deal, a merchant or company can seek to focus the offer toa subset of consumers. In order to select those consumers in the subset,the merchant may analyze data generated from similar deal programs.However, the analysis to determine which deals to offer to the consumerscan prove difficult.

SUMMARY

A deal program life cycle system and method are disclosed.

In one aspect, a method is provided for managing a deal program throughmultiple time periods. The method includes: associating, in one or morememories, the deal program during a first time period with a first dealprogram collection; during the first time period, offering deals fromthe deal program from an associated publicly available datapage; duringthe first time period, using a relevance engine in order to determinewhether to offer one or more deals from the first deal programcollection to a consumer; after the first time period, associating thedeal program during a second time period with a second deal programcollection, the second time period being different from the first timeperiod; and during the second time period, in response to the relevanceengine detecting a predefined event relating to the first deal programcollection, using the relevance engine in order to determine whether tooffer the deal from the deal program to the consumer.

In another aspect, a system is provided for managing a deal programthrough multiple time periods. The system includes: a memory storingprocessor-executable instructions; and a processor in communication withthe memory. The processor is configured to execute theprocessor-executable instructions to: associate the deal program duringa first time period with a first deal program collection; during thefirst time period, offer deals from the deal program from an associatedpublicly available datapage; during the first time period, determinewhether to offer one or more deals from the first deal programcollection to a consumer; after the first time period, associate thedeal program during a second time period with a second deal programcollection, the second time period being different from the first timeperiod; and during the second time period, in response to detecting apredefined event relating to the first deal program collection,determine whether to offer the deal from the deal program to theconsumer.

In still another aspect, a method is provided for managing an offer foradeal from a deal program. The method includes: transmitting the offer toa consumer electronic device, the offer including an indication of aperiod of time in which to accept the offer and a link to accept theoffer, activation of the link configured to access a datapage, thedatapage having a publicly available period and a link-activationperiod, the publicly available period comprising a period in which thedatapage is publicly searchable via a server, the link-activation periodcomprising a later period in which the datapage is only accessible viathe server by activating the link; receiving a communication, responsiveto activation of the link, for a request to accept the offer;determining whether the request to accept the offer is within thelink-activation period; in response to determining that the request toaccept the offer is within the link-activation period, processing therequest; and in response to determining that the request to accept theoffer is outside of the link-activation period, rejecting the request.

In yet another aspect, a system is provided for managing an offer for adeal from a deal program. The system includes: a memory storingprocessor-executable instructions; and a processor in communication withthe memory. The processor is configured to execute theprocessor-executable instructions to: transmit the offer to a consumerelectronic device, the offer including an indication of a period of timein which to accept the offer and a link to accept the offer, activationof the link configured to access a datapage, the datapage having apublicly available period and a link-activation period, the publiclyavailable period comprising a period in which the datapage is publiclysearchable via a server, the link-activation period comprising a laterperiod in which the datapage is only accessible via the server byactivating the link; receive a communication, responsive to activationof the link, for a request to accept the offer; determine whether therequest to accept the offer is within the link-activation period; inresponse to determining that the request to accept the offer is withinthe link-activation period, process the request; and in response todetermining that the request to accept the offer is outside of thelink-activation period, reject the request.

Other systems, methods, and features will be, or will become, apparentto one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figuresand detailed description. It is intended that all such additionalsystems, methods, features and be included within this description, bewithin the scope of the disclosure, and be protected by the followingclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present application can be better understood with reference to thefollowing drawings and description. Non-limiting and non-exhaustivedescriptions are described with reference to the following drawings. Thecomponents in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis insteadbeing placed upon illustrating principles. In the figures, likereferenced numerals can refer to like parts throughout the differentfigures unless otherwise specified.

FIG. 1A illustrates an example network architecture for an electroniccommerce system.

FIG. 1B illustrates another example network architecture for theelectronic commerce system.

FIG. 2A shows a block diagram of the relevance system.

FIG. 2B shows a block diagram of the sales enhancement system.

FIG. 3 illustrates a deal program life cycle.

FIG. 4A illustrates a flow diagram for separating a deal program intodifferent deal program collections.

FIG. 4B illustrates example relevance attributes and example periodspertaining to the relevance attributes.

FIG. 4C illustrates a flow diagram for using a trigger to determinewhich deal program collection to access.

FIG. 4D illustrates an example trigger.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram for selecting a deal program once acollection has been selected.

FIG. 6A illustrates a flow diagram for selecting the period of time toaccept an offer for a deal.

FIG. 6B illustrates a flow diagram for receiving a response from theconsumer and determining if the response is within the time period ofaccepting an offer for a deal.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram for determining workflows.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram for a returns workflow.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram for a breakage workflow.

FIG. 10 is a general computer system, programmable to be a specificcomputer system, which may represent any of the computing devicesreferenced herein, such as the relevance system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A deal may include any type of reward, discount, coupon, credit,promotion, voucher or the like used toward part (or all) of the purchaseof a product or a service. The deal may be part of a deal program, whichmay include, without limitation, deal features, a number of units fordeals, and relevance features for the deal program.

Examples of deal features include, without limitation, the store atwhich the deal is offered, an amount discounted, and a period (after thedeal is purchased or accepted) when the deal is valid for use. Inaddition, an example of the number of units for the deal program mayinclude a number of goods or services available for purchase oracceptance (e.g., an inventory of 100 hard goods, or 100 availablepromotion offers for a $40 reduction in the cost of a dinner).Alternatively, or in addition, the number of units may include a numberof offers (or impressions) for deals (e.g., 100 offers to consumers ofthe promotion deal for $40 reduction in the cost of a dinner).

Further, examples of relevance features for a deal program may include,but are not limited to: a time period during which deals for the dealprogram are offered (e.g., deals from the deal program may be offeredfor one week, one month, six months, for the Christmas shopping season,etc.), which may include a length of the time period, a start time/dateand an end time/date for the time period at which deals may begin to beoffered; a time period, after offering the deal to the consumer, duringwhich the consumer may purchase or accept the deal (e.g., 2 hours or 2days after an offer is transmitted to the consumer to accept the deal);a time period in which deals may be used by the consumer (e.g., 1 monthafter purchase of the deal); a shelf life of a unit (explained in detailbelow); marketing channels associated with the deal program; a preferredgeographic region of the deal program (e.g., a geographic region used totarget consumers); and information pertaining to probable consumers(e.g., various attributes for target consumers).

The deal program may have a life cycle, in which at least a part of thedeal program may change during different periods of the life cycle. Asdiscussed above, the deal program may include deal features, a number ofunits for deals, and relevance features for the deal program. One, someor all of the deal features, number of units of deals, and relevancefeatures for the deal program may change during the different periods ofthe life cycle.

As discussed in more detail below with respect to FIG. 3, the dealprogram may have different periods including, for example, thepre-feature period, the VIP period, the feature period, the mulliganperiod and the sales enhancement period. In one embodiment, the dealprogram may transition to the different periods and cannot transitionback to a previous period. One or more aspects of the deal program maychange in each of the different periods. So that, in one embodiment, thedeal program may be viewed as being segmented into different dealprograms for the different periods of the life cycle. For example, thedeal program may be segmented into a pre-feature deal program (withcharacteristics of the deal program specific to the pre-feature period)for the pre-feature period, a VIP deal program (with characteristics ofthe deal program specific to the VIP period) for the VIP period, afeature deal program (with characteristics of the deal program specificto the feature period) for the feature period, a mulligan deal program(with characteristics of the deal program specific to the mulliganperiod) for the mulligan period, and a sales enhancement deal program(with characteristics of the deal program specific to the salesenhancement period) for the sales enhancement period. The example of thesegmented deal programs are merely for illustration purposes.

Further, the different deal programs may be associated with or includedinto different deal program collections. In the example given above, ifthe deal program is segmented into a particular deal program (labeledabove as the “feature deal program”), the feature deal program may beassociated with or included into a feature deal program collection. Thefeature deal program collection may include a compilation of differentdeal programs that are for use during the feature period of therespective deal program's feature period. For example, the feature dealprogram collection may include 100 different feature deal programs, witheach of the 100 feature deal programs having the particularcharacteristics associated with the feature period (such as beingpublicly available to all customers during a specific time period of thedeal program's life cycle). As other examples, a deal program segmentedinto a pre-feature deal program, VIP deal program, or a salesenhancement deal program may be associated with or included into arespective pre-feature deal program collection, VIP deal programcollection, or sales enhancement deal program collection. As discussedin more detail below, association with or inclusion into a particulardeal program collection may be accomplished in one of several ways.

The different deal program collections may be used by the system indifferent ways. For example, the different deal collections may be usedfor different classes of electronic promotion correspondence. Asdiscussed in more detail below, the relevance system may control thesending of deals for different classes of electronic promotioncorrespondence. A promotion class may refer to any configurablecategorization of deals set by the relevance system. For example, therelevance system may specify deals for products or goods as belonging toa first promotion class (e.g., “goods” promotions). As another example,the relevance system may specify time-sensitive promotions as belongingto particular promotion class (e.g., “deal-of-the-day” promotions) andtravel-related promotions as belonging to a different promotion class(e.g., “getaway” promotions). Any number of additional or differentclassifications may be employed by the relevance system. In one example,the feature deal program collection is associated with the“deal-of-the-day” promotion class. The relevance system accesses thefeature deal program collection in order to determine which deal, fromthe feature deal program collection, to select as the “deal-of-the-day”for the consumer. When the deal program is associated with the featuredeal program collection, the deal program is considered a part of the“deal-of-the-day” promotion class. In another time period, the dealprogram may be associated with the sales enhancement deal programcollection, and thus is part of another promotion class.

The changes in the deal program during the various periods in the lifecycle result in one or more of the following being modified: visibilityof the deal program to the consumer; accessibility of the deal programto the consumer; targeted consumers for the deal program; methods inwhich to access the deal program; and numbers of consumers targeted.

Visibility of the deal program to the consumer (such as to all consumersor to a subset of consumers) may change during different periods of thelife cycle of the deal program. For example, the deal program may bepublicly visible by all consumers (or a subset of consumers) during oneperiod of the life cycle, and may not be publicly visible to all of theconsumers (or the subset of consumers) during an other period of thelife cycle. In one embodiment, the deal program is stored in a database,in which all deal programs stored therein are publicly searchable by allconsumers without restriction. So that, the customer may search (andidentify) the deal program. In an alternate embodiment, the dealprograms stored in the database are publicly searchable by a subset (butnot all) of the consumers. For example, consumers assigned a specificattribute (such as a VIP status) may be allowed to search the databasewhereas other consumers who are not assigned the specific attribute arenot allowed to search the database. In still an alternate embodiment,the deal program may be assigned a tag or an identifier. The tag oridentifier may indicate that the deal program is searchable by thecustomer, such as the customer submitting a search via a web browser toa server (such as Groupon Server 112, discussed below). In the otherperiod of the life cycle, the deal program is not publicly visible orsearchable. So that, in the other period of the life cycle, the dealfrom the deal program is presented to the consumer only when therelevance system (discussed below) selects the deal for the consumer (asopposed to the consumer selecting the deal).

In addition, accessibility of the deal program to the consumer (such asto all consumers or to a subset of consumers) may change duringdifferent periods of the life cycle of the deal program. For example,the deal program may be accessible by all consumers (or a subset ofconsumers) during one period of the life cycle (such as the featureperiod), and may be inaccessible during an other period of the lifecycle (such as publicly inaccessible during the sales enhancementperiod). In particular, during the one period of the life cycle, allconsumers (or a subset of consumers) may access the deal program inorder to purchase a deal from the deal program. During the other periodof the life cycle, the customers may not access the deal program (e.g.,the customer can view the deal program, but on the webpage, the “buy”button for the deal is grayed out, thereby disallowing the customer topurchase a deal from the deal program). Further, the manner in which thedeal may be accessible may change during different periods of the lifecycle. For example, in one period (such as the feature period, discussedbelow), the deal may be available for all customers to purchase (such asvia a website), and in another period (such as the pre-feature period,the mulligan period, or the sales enhancement period, discussed below),the deal may only be available to a subset of customers (such as thosecustomers that have access to an email or other communication thatincludes a link to a website to purchase the deal).

Moreover, the targeted consumers for the deal program may change duringdifferent periods of the life cycle of the deal program. As discussedabove, the relevance features for a deal program may include the one ormore attributes of the consumers targeted to receive deals from the dealprogram. The relevance features may change during different periods ofthe deal program life cycle so that different sets of consumers aretargeted during the different periods of the deal program life cycle.Further, the methods in which to access the deal program may vary duringthe different periods of the life cycle of the deal program.

In the different periods of the life cycle, deals are offered toconsumers. One manner in which to determine which deals to offer toconsumers is by use of a relevance system, such as disclosed in U.S.application Ser. No. 13/411,502, which this application incorporates byreference in its entirety. The relevance system may work in combinationwith other systems, such as VIP system, a pre-feature system, a featuresystem, and a sales enhancement system (SES) in order to determine oneor more deals to offer to consumers in the various periods of the lifecycle of a deal program. The sales enhancement system is disclosed, forexample, in U.S. application Ser. No. 13/460,745, incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

For example, the pre-feature system (either within a relevance system,such as illustrated in FIG. 1A, or separate from a relevance system,such as illustrated in FIG. 1B) may access the available pre-featuredeal programs and select which consumer(s) to offer the pre-feature dealprogram(s). Likewise, the feature system, the VIP system, and the salesenhancement system may access the respective available deal programs andselect which consumer(s) to offer the pre-feature deal program(s).Further, the pre-feature system, the feature system, the VIP system, andthe sales enhancement system may work separately to present deals toconsumers, or may work in concert. As one example, the relevance system,in combination with the pre-feature system, the feature system, the VIPsystem, and the sales enhancement system, may select the best deal(s) topresent to the consumer, with the best deal(s) selected amongst thedifferent deal programs (such as pre-feature deal programs, VIP dealprograms, feature deal programs, and sales enhancement deal programs).As another example, the different systems may work in concert with oneanother, such as if the feature system determines that none of thefeature deal programs is acceptable, the sales enhancement system mayselect a more acceptable deal from the sales enhancement deal programs.

For example, the sales enhancement system may be used in the salesenhancement period. The sales enhancement system is configured topopulate and/or use one or more deal program collections, such as thesales enhancement deal program collection. As discussed briefly aboveand in more detail below with respect to FIG. 3, the deal program may besegmented into different deal programs for the different periods of thelife cycle. For instance, the deal program may be segmented into aspecific deal program that is tagged or designated as being a salesenhancement deal program for use by the sales enhancement system.

As discussed above, the deal programs may be grouped or compiled intoone or more deal program collections. An example of a deal programcollection may include a sales enhancement collection that includes alldeal programs that are designated as being a sales enhancement program.The sales enhancement system is configured to manage deal programs inthe one or more deal program collections, such as the sales enhancementcollection.

Further, one or both of the relevance system and the sales enhancementsystem may be configured to manage deal programs at various stages ofuse including: associating a deal program with the one or more dealprogram collections (such as assigning a first deal program to a firstdeal program collection and a second deal program to a second dealprogram collection); determining the number of deals to assign to thedifferent deal programs (either upon assigning the deal program to thedeal program collection or thereafter); using triggers to select whichdeal program collection(s) to access; transmitting an offer fora deal;and processing acceptances of the offers.

For example, an original deal program may be divided into a first dealprogram and a second deal program, with the first deal program beingstored in or associated with the first deal program collection and thesecond deal program stored in or associated with the second deal programcollection. In one aspect of the invention, the dividing of the dealprogram may be performed by designating the deal program life cycle,such as illustrated in FIG. 3. For example, deal program life cycle 300includes the feature period and the sales enhancement period.

Further, in one embodiment, the first deal program collection comprisesdeal programs that are currently in the feature period and the seconddeal program collection comprises that are currently in the salesenhancement period. The division of the original deal program may bedetermined in several ways, as discussed in more detail below. As merelyone example, the division may be based on percentages, such as X % ofthe units from the original deal program being associated with the firstdeal program in the first deal program collection and Y % of the unitsfrom the original deal program being associated with the second dealprogram in the second deal program collection, where X %+Y %=100%. Asanother example, the number of units placed in the second deal programis dependent on the number of units sold from the first deal program.Further, the time periods for the first deal program and the second dealprogram may be different, as discussed in more detail below. Forexample, the length of the time periods during which deals may be offerfor the first deal program or the second deal program may be different(such as deals may be offered from the first deal program for 1 week orless, and deals may be offered from the second deal program for 1 weekor more (such as 1 month, 2 months, 6 months, a year or indefinitely)).Due to the longer length of the time period, the second deal programcollection may compile a larger number of deals than the first dealprogram collection. Further, the start time/date and end time/date foroffering deals from the first deal program and second deal program maybe different. The start time/date for the first deal program may bebefore the start time/date for the second deal program. Further, the endtime/date for the first deal program may be at or before the starttime/date for the second deal program. Finally, the triggers in which toaccess deals in the different deal program collections may be different.As discussed in more detail below, management of the feature dealprogram collection comprises analyzing periodically (e.g., daily for a“deal-of-the-day”) in order to select one or a plurality of deals fromthe feature deal program collection to present to a consumer. Incontrast, management of the sales enhancement deal program collectioncomprises analyzing in response to triggering events, which may not beperiodic or daily as in the management of the feature deal programcollection.

Associating a particular deal program with a particular deal programcollection may include storing the particular deal program in a databasededicated to storage of deal programs in the particular deal programcollection. Alternatively, association with the particular deal programcollection may comprise tagging the deal program so that the dealprogram is considered to be connected to or associated with theparticular deal program collection. The sales enhancement system (or therelevance system) may populate the different deal program collectionswith deal programs, and may assign features to the deal programs basedon pre-determined criteria.

In one embodiment, the deal program collections are populated bydividing a deal program into the different deal program collections, sothat a part of a deal program is associated with a first deal programcollection and another part of the deal program is associated with asecond deal program collection. For example, an original deal programmay include deal features and a number of units for the original dealprogram (e.g., the number of deals for sale from the original dealprogram). Part or all of the original deal program may be divided into afirst deal program and a second deal program, so that the first dealprogram and the second deal program have the same deal features as theoriginal deal program, and so that the amount of units for the firstdeal program and the second deal program are based on the amount ofunits for the original deal program (e.g., the amount of units for thefirst deal program plus the amount of units for the second deal programequal the amount of units for the original deal program). For example,the first deal program is the feature deal program and the second dealprogram is the sales enhancement deal program.

Furthermore, different relevance features may be assigned to the dealprograms associated with the different deal program collections. Forexample, the sales enhancement system (or the relevance system) mayassign a first deal program associated with the first deal programcollection with first relevance features and a second deal programassociated with the second deal program collection with second relevancefeatures, whereby the deal features for the first deal program and thesecond deal program are the same, but the relevance features aredifferent as a whole or in part (e.g., the first relevance features forthe first deal program are different from the second relevance featuresfor the second deal program).

So that, in the example of an original deal program being divided into afirst deal program and a second deal program associated with the firstand second deal program collections, respectively, the first dealprogram and the second deal program may have different relevancefeatures (either at the program level (e.g., each deal program hasdifferent deal program relevance features) and/or at the collectionlevel (e.g., all the deals associated with a deal program collectionhave common relevance features). For example, the first deal programcollection has a first set of relevance features so that associating thefirst deal program with the first deal program collection therebyassociates the first set of relevance features with the first dealprogram. Likewise, the second deal program collection has a second setof relevance features (different from the first set) so that associatingthe second deal program with the second deal program collection therebyassociates the second set of relevance features with the second dealprogram.

Examples of deal program relevance features are discussed above.Examples of deal program collections include, without limitation, apre-feature deal program collection, VIP deal program collection,feature deal program collection, and sales enhancement deal programcollection. Examples of differences between a first deal programcollection relevance feature and a second deal program collectionrelevance feature may include, without limitation: differences in theperiods during which units may be offered to and/or purchased by aconsumer (e.g., the period to purchase a unit from the first dealprogram is longer than the period to purchase a unit from the seconddeal program); differences in the periods during which units may be usedby a consumer; and differences in discoverability to purchase a unit(e.g., a unit from the first deal program may be discoverable to anyoneand a unit from the second deal program is only discoverable to apredetermined group of consumers, where the predetermined group ofconsumers can be grouped by demographics and/or historical or real-timeinformation related to purchasing behaviors and web browsing).

In another aspect, the relevance system works in combination with thesales enhancement system in order to determine which deal program(s) tooffer to a consumer. The relevance system (alone or in combination withthe sales enhancement system) may determine which of the deal programcollections to examine for deal program(s) based on a triggering event(trigger). Examples of a trigger include, but are not limited to:determining that no deal program in a first deal program collection hasa score that meets a predetermined threshold value (e.g., theprobability that a consumer will accept an offer for a deal from thedeal programs in the first deal program collection is lower than adesired amount or the conversion rate if offered deals from the dealprograms in the first deal program collection is lower than a desiredrate); determining a potential upsell to the customer (e.g., if acustomer purchases a particular deal, such as a deal from the first dealprogram collection, a trigger is generated to search a select a deal tooffer from the second deal program collection); receiving a request fora deal from a new customer or end user; determining a particular type ofcustomer (e.g., a customer identified with a particular characteristic,such as a frequent shopper); sending a batch email; receiving a requestto select a deal program from a second deal program collection due to aconsumer already receiving a predetermined number of impressions for oneor more deal programs in the first deal program collection; receiving arequest for a deal program that has a predetermined period to use a unitof the deal program (e.g., where the predetermined period to use theunit is less than one day); determining a persona of a customer (e.g.,when a particular customer provides a specific type of information, suchas one or more attributes (for example, a specific type of deal thecustomer wants or a location where the customer wants a deal), a triggermay be generated to select a specific deal program collection in orderto tailor the deal to the persona of the particular customer); receive arequest from a customer fora deal that has already ended (e.g., acustomer sends a request for a deal from a first deal program in thefirst deal program collection that has already ended (the time periodfor offering the deal from the first deal program is ended), the requestthereby triggering a search of the second deal program collection todetermine whether a second deal program (with deal attributes the sameas or similar to the first deal program) is present in the second dealprogram collection in order to offer a deal from the second deal programto the customer that submitted the request); or receiving a request fora deal in which the request has a predetermined period to purchase thedeal. Further, a trigger may include receiving a request for dealprogram utilizing search engine marketing (e.g., receiving a requestfora deal program from an Internet search results page, where the dealprogram requested can be based on content of the search results page), adeal program utilizing an online advertising channel (e.g., a dealprogram associated with sporting goods, a deal program associated withdining, etc.), or a deal program associated with a syndication partner(e.g., a deal program advertised through a partner content provider oranother deal program provider that is a partner). In addition, a triggermay include receiving a change to a customer profile. For example, acustomer may submit information for a customer profile or may submitinformation to update one or more attributes of an existing profile. Thesubmission or update of the profile may act as a trigger to search thesecond deal program collection to determine whether a deal program inthe second deal program collection includes deal attribute(s) the sameor similar to the attributes of the submitted or updated profile. Forinstance, if the customer adds a neighborhood to the places in which thecustomer wishes to receive deals, the relevance system may update thecustomer's profile with the added neighborhood. The sales enhancementsystem may further receive the added neighborhood and search the seconddeal program collection in order to find deal(s) which are in the addedneighborhood.

In another embodiment, the relevance system examines different dealprograms, which have the same deal features, differently based on therelevance features assigned. As discussed above, the relevance systemand/or the sales enhancement system assign different relevance features(either at the deal program level and/or at the deal program collectionlevel). The relevance system may use the relevance features in order todetermine whether to offer a deal from a deal program collection to aconsumer, and may use such features in combination with the trigger todetermine which collection to examine.

With respect to one embodiment, an online content provider, such as anonline deal provider, may arrange a deal program to promote for amerchant. In an online context, when the deal is arranged, the dealprovider and the merchant determine an amount of units (e.g., amount ofcoupons, tickets, services, goods or impressions (e.g., amount ofadvertisements, solicitations, or batch emails or voicemails)) that thedeal provider may distribute. Usually, all the units or references tothe units are associated with one deal program collection. In cases,where the deal provider or the merchant utilizes the sales enhancementsystem, for example, the sales enhancement system may associate theunits in at least two different deal program collections.

For example, the sales enhancement system may associate different timeperiods to the different deal programs. As discussed above, a dealprogram may have a time period during which offers may be made from adeal program (such as a start time period for beginning to make offersfrom the deal program and an end time period for ceasing to make offers)or a time period for acceptance of an offer. This is shown, for example,in FIG. 3 in which the feature period for the feature deal program isthree days whereas the sales enhancement period for the salesenhancement deal program is nearly 2 months. Further, as discussedabove, the sales enhancement system may assign a majority of the unitsfrom a first deal program to a first deal program collection, with afirst predetermined period(s) of time (such as for a feature dealprogram for sale during a feature period), and a remainder of the unitsor a lesser predetermined percentage of the units in a second dealprogram collection with a second predetermined period(s) of time (suchas for a sales enhancement deal program for sale during a salesenhancement period). The first predetermined period(s) of time may bedifferent from the second predetermined period of time in one of severalways including: the time period during which offers may be made from thedeal program (e.g., when the period of time begins, when the period oftime ends, and/or the duration of the period of time). In particular,the end time period for offering deals in the first deal program may endbefore the start time period for beginning to offers deals for thesecond deal program begins. Further, the time period during which offersmay be made from the first deal program may be shorter than the timeperiod during which offers may be made from the second deal program(such as the first period of time being a week and the second period oftime being six months). The different time periods are shown, forexample, in FIG. 3.

The assigning of the units to the first deal program or the second dealprogram may be based on historical information or real-time informationassociated with a respective deal program. Further, the relevance or thesales enhancement system may initially associate units in the first dealprogram collection (such as the feature deal program collection), andthereafter associate unused units in the second deal program collection(such as the sales enhancement deal program collection) after the timeperiod during which offers may be made from the first deal program.Further, after beginning to offer deals from the first deal program(such as the feature deal program), the sales enhancement system or therelevance system may determine an amount of additional units to assignto the second deal program (such as the sales enhancement deal program),which is already associated with the second deal program collection.Such a determination, as well as any other determination describedherein, may be determined based on historical information or real-timeinformation, by the sales enhancement system, the relevance system, orany combination thereof.

In one embodiment, in addition to associating units in the first andsecond deal program collection, one or both of the relevance system andthe sales enhancement system may determine and set parameters associatedwith a deal program, a consumer, or a set of units (such as a set of theunits associated with the first deal program collection or the seconddeal program collection). Further, the determination and the setting ofthe parameters may include, without limitation, settingperformance/persona parameters associated with a set of units, settingperformance/persona parameters associated with the deal program ingeneral (e.g. parameters related to the merchant, beginning and end ofthe deal program, and discounts), setting relevance system parameters(e.g., see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/411,502), and/or settingconsumer characteristics (e.g., gender, age, ethnicity, personalpreferences, historical locations, and real-time location). Further, thedeterminations and the settings of parameters may be based on historicalinformation or real-time information. Also, information associated witha set of units may include, without limitation, an expiration date(e.g., a date the units are no longer usable by a consumer), an amountof units, and a shelf life (e.g., a predetermined extent to whichconsumers appear to be interested in a unit, or period of time thatunits will be expected to sell at a predetermined rate). Informationassociated with a set of impressions may include, without limitation,similar information to information associated with units, positioning incontent (e.g., positioning on a webpage), and format.

Further, by separating deal programs into more than one deal programcollection, such as the first and the second deal program collection,the system may configure one of the collections, such as the second dealprogram collection, to offer deals from the deal programs associatedwith that collection: for a different period and/or for a much longerperiod of time than deal programs associated with another collection;for a different set of consumers; or in response to different triggeringevents. For example, a first deal program from the first deal programcollection may be offered for one week, after which, the second dealprogram from the second program collection may be offered for sixmonths. Another example of this is illustrated in FIG. 3 in which thefeature period for the feature deal program is 3 days and the salesenhancement period for the sales enhancement deal program is nearly 2months. Because deal programs may be offered for a longer period of timein the second deal program collection, the second program collection mayamass more deal programs and serve as a deal repository or storehouse.More specifically, the second deal program collection (such as the salesenhancement deal program collection) may have a much larger number ofdeal programs available, such as more than a factor of ten or a factorof one-hundred greater than the first deal program collection. The sheergreater numbers of deal programs available with the second deal programcollection thus increases the probability that the relevance system mayselect a deal to send to the consumer with a higher score, as discussedin more detail below.

In one embodiment, one or both of the sales enhancement system and therelevance system are configured to transmit an impression to a consumer.Impressions may be received, for example, via a web page, an email, atext message (e.g., a text message via Short Message Service (SMS)), avoice message, a phone call, a mailer, or any form of delivering anelectronic or printed publication. The impression may include a link(such as a hyperlink) that is a reference to a datapage (such as awebpage that may be resident on a web-based server). Activation of thelink enables an electronic device to access the datapage in order toaccept the offer (such as by payment of a fee).

Further, the sales enhancement system, alone or in combination with therelevance system, may restrict the transmission of an impression by thedeal program collection with which the impression is associated. Forexample, for one deal program collection, impressions may be freelytransmitted (such as for the feature deal program collection which isavailable for all customers), wherein for another deal programcollection, impressions may only be transmitted to predeterminedconsumers or under predetermined conditions (such as for the VIP dealprogram collection, which is available only for VIP customers, or forthe sales enhancement deal program collection, which may be accessedbased on predetermined triggers). As another example, the time in whichimpressions are sent may vary from one deal program collection to thenext. In particular, impressions may be sent for deal programs in thefirst deal program collection during a first predetermined period oftime (such as for one week) whereas impressions may be sent for dealprograms in the second deal program collection during a secondpredetermined period of time (such as for six months) As discussedabove, the first predetermined period of time is different from thesecond predetermined period of time (such as the first predeterminedperiod of time ends before the second predetermined period of timebegins, and such as the first predetermined period of time is muchshorter than the second predetermined period of time). Further, afterthe first predetermined period of time, the sales enhancement system candetermine an amount of additional impressions of the deal program totransmit to predetermined consumers, and such a determination can bemade by the sales enhancement system, the relevance system, or acombination thereof. In addition, the sales enhancement system, alone orin combination with the relevance system, can transmit an impressionfrom a deal program collection to a predetermined consumer based on acharacteristic of the predetermined consumer, parameters associated withunits of deal program collection (such as the amount of units), dealprogram features, and relevance features or criteria.

Additionally, besides having the initial period of time for a consumerto accept a unit and the extended period of time to keep units availableto consumers, other periods of time may be introduced. For example, athird period of time, described for example in FIG. 3 as the mulliganperiod and which may be considered a forgiveness period of time, mayoccur immediately after the initial period of time and prior to theextended period of time. The third period allows the system todistribute units from the first deal program collection (such as thefeature deal program collection) under the same relevance features ofthe first collection for an additional period (e.g., a two-dayforgiveness period, such as illustrated in FIG. 3). Then, after theforgiveness period, for example, the extended period of time to keepunits available to consumers can occur. Further, these extended periodsof time can be associated with the second deal program collection.

FIG. 1A illustrates a network architecture 100 for an electroniccommerce system that includes a relevance system 114 a, a VIP system 144a, a pre-feature system 146 a, a feature system 148 a, a salesenhancement system 150 a, and a network 102. The network 102 caninclude, without limitation, one or more wired networks, wirelessnetworks, or combinations thereof. The wireless network can be acellular telephone network, an 802.11, 802.16, 802.20, or WiMax network.Further, the network 102 can be a public network, such as the Internet,a private network, such as an intranet, or combinations thereof, and canutilize a variety of networking protocols now available or laterdeveloped including, but not limited to TCP/IP based networkingprotocols.

The relevance system 114 a communicates with a variety of devicesincluding consumer devices, merchant devices, and servers (includingservers that provide search engine capabilities and other websitefunctionality). For example, one or more consumers, illustrated asConsumer 1 (104) through Consumer N (106), can communicate with thenetwork 102. The consumers can use any type of electronic device, suchas a mobile computing device (e.g., a smartphone), a palmtop computer, alaptop computer, a desktop computer, or the like. In addition, one ormore companies such as merchants, illustrated as Merchant 1 (108)through Merchant M (110), can communicate with the network 102.

FIG. 1A further illustrates servers, such as a Groupon® server 112 and a3rd party server 118, and network functionality, such as a search enginesystem 116. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, a VIP system 144 a, a pre-featuresystem 146 a, a feature system 148 a, the sales enhancement system 150 aand the relevance system 114 a are depicted separately from the Groupon®server 112. Alternatively, some or all of these systems may beintegrated with the Groupon® server 112. Also, as shown in FIG. 1A, aVIP system 144 a, a pre-feature system 146 a, a feature system 148 a,the sales enhancement system 150 a are integrated with the relevancesystem 114 a. In this way, the relevance system 114 a includes varioussub-functions, such as management of pre-feature deal programs (usingpre-feature system 146 a), VIP deal programs (using VIP system 144 a),feature programs (using feature system 148 a), and sales enhancementdeal programs (using sales enhancement system 150 a), as discussed inmore detail below. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 1B, a VIP system 144b, a pre-feature system 146 b, a feature system 148 b, the salesenhancement system 150 b and the relevance system 114 b can be separatecomponents that communicate via the network 102. The depictionsillustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, as well as the other figures referencedherein, are merely for illustration purposes.

FIG. 2A illustrates a block diagram of the relevance system 114 a. Asillustrated in FIG. 2A, the relevance system 114 a can receive inputsfrom one or more input devices, such as input from a device 1 (214) toinput from a device P (216). Examples of input devices include, but arenot limited to, input from the Groupon® server 112, the search enginesystem 116, the 3rd party server 118, and the consumer 1 (104) throughthe consumer N (106).

As shown in FIG. 2A, the relevance system 114 a includes a featureanalytical engine 228 a (e.g., see U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/411,502), a pre-feature analytical engine 230 a, a VIP analyticalengine 232 a, a sales enhancement analytical engine 234 a, contextdetermination 202, origin determination 226 a, a communicationsinterface 204, and databases 206. FIG. 2A depicts multiple analyticalengines in order to issue and process pre-feature deals, VIP deals,feature deals, and sales enhancement deals. Alternatively, the relevancesystem may include a single analytical engine in order to perform thisfunctionality.

In an embodiment, the relevance system 114 a may optionally use thecontext determination 202 and the origin determination 226 a in order toprocess multiple workflows depending on context and origin,respectively. As shown in FIG. 2A, the context determination 202 and theorigin determination 226 a are configured to control the flow of thevarious workflows and are illustrated as separate from the variousanalytical engines 228 a, 230 a, 232 a, and 234 a. Alternatively, thecontext determination 202 and the origin determination 226 a may beintegrated with the analytical engines 228 a, 230 a, 232 a, and 234 a.Further, as shown in FIG. 2A, the databases 206 include deal informationdatabase 208, user information database 210, and analytical enginedatabase 212. The deal information database 208 includes data related tothe deal programs available for offer to users. The user informationdatabase 210 includes, without limitation, data related to the users,such as merchants, consumers, and subscribers. Also, the analyticalengine database 212 may include data (other than deal program data anduser data) that is used by the analytical engines 228 a, 230 a, 232 a,234 a, such as a data from a past purchases database. Further, FIG. 2Aseparately depicts the deal information database 208, the userinformation database 210, and the analytical engine database 212.Alternatively, the information depicted in the deal information database208, the user information database 210, and the analytical enginedatabase 212 may be included in a single database.

As discussed above, the relevance system 114 a may include variousanalytical engines for managing the different deal programs, includingthe pre-feature deal programs, the VIP deal programs, the featureprograms, and the sales enhancement deal programs. Alternatively, thefunctionality for managing the different deal programs may be separatedfrom the relevance system. FIG. 2B illustrates a block diagram of thesales enhancement system 150 b, which is an example of the functionalityfor managing sales enhancement deal programs. The sales enhancementsystem 150 b may include a sales enhancement analytical engine 234 b,origin determination 226 b, a communications interface 262, anddatabases 260. In an embodiment, the sales enhancement system 150 b mayoptionally use the origin determination 226 a in order to processmultiple workflows depending on the origin of a deal program. As shownin FIG. 2B, the origin determination 226 b is separate from the salesenhancement analytical engine 234 b, and the determination and enginecan be used to control the flow of the various workflows. Alternatively,the origin determination 226 b may be integrated with the salesenhancement analytical engine 234 b. Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, thedatabases 260 may include a deal information database 258 and ananalytical engine database 259. The deal information database 258includes data related to the deal programs available for offer to users.Also, the analytical engine database 259 may include data (other thandeal program data) that is used by the sales enhancement analyticalengine 234 b, such as data from a past purchases database. Further, FIG.2B depicts the deal information database 258 and the analytical enginedatabase 259 as separate databases. Alternatively, these databases maybe included in a single database and in a single memory device. Thoughnot depicted in the figures, VIP system 144 b, pre-feature system 146 b,and feature system 148 b may include similar structure as depicted inFIG. 2B.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a deal program life cycle 300, in whichdifferent periods of the deal program are illustrated. The differentperiods of the deal program life cycle 300, the ordering of thedifferent periods, and the length of time for the different periods arefor illustration purposes.

The deal cycle may have one or more scheduling periods, such as CPscheduling window. Further, the deal cycle may have one or moreopt-in/opt-out window in which to opt-in or opt-out of one or more ofthe periods. For example, FIG. 3 illustrates an opt-in/opt/out windowfor the pre-feature period, which is discussed below.

FIG. 3 illustrates different periods for the promotion program,including the pre-feature period, feature period, VIP period,post-feature period, and private sale. The pre-feature period isdesigned to generate test data in order to test or investigate at leastone attribute associated with the promotion program. The pre-featureperiod is discussed in U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/593,262,filed on Jan. 31, 2012, entitled Pre-Feature Promotion System, and U.S.application Ser. No. 13/756,145, filed on Jan. 31, 2013, entitledPre-Feature Promotion system, both of which are incorporated byreference herein in their entirety. The pre-feature period may implementthe promotion program with one or more predetermined attributes in orderto generate the test data. For example, multiple consumer groupings maybe based on distance of the consumer to the test promotion (i.e., 0-2miles from the location of the promotion, 2-4 miles from the location ofthe promotion, etc.). The multiple consumer groupings may also be basedon attributes of the consumers, such as gender, age, economic status, orthe like.

As discussed in more detail below, the promotion offering system 102 isconfigured to select consumers for the pre-feature promotion so that theconsumers selected in the multiple groupings exhibit a pre-determineddistribution of values for the tested attribute. In this way, theconsumers selected represent a control population that exhibit thepre-determined distribution of values.

The feature period may be similar to the pre-feature period in certainaspects, and vary from the pre-feature period in other aspects.Likewise, data generated from the pre-feature period may be used todetermine which consumers to target during the feature period, asdiscussed in U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/593,262. As oneexample, the pre-feature period may run prior to the feature period(such as the day before the full-feature promotion, as illustrated inFIG. 3).

As one example, the deal features for the deal program during thepre-feature period and the feature period may be the same, whereas therelevance features of the pre-feature period and its correspondingfeature period may be different. In particular, the pre-feature periodand the corresponding feature period may identify common deal features,such as the same merchant for the deal, the same amount of the discount,etc. Moreover, the implementation of the deal program during thepre-feature period may be different from the feature period in one ormore aspects. For example, the relevance features may be differentduring the pre-feature period than during the feature period, so thatthe number of consumers targeted and the set of consumers targeting(such as the distribution of consumers targeted, etc.) are differentduring the pre-feature period and during the feature period. In thegeographic example described above, the pre-feature period may target3,000 consumers in each of the values of geographic distance (0-2 miles,2-4 miles, etc.). So that, the pre-feature period targets apredetermined distribution (such as consumers in a pre-determinedgeographic distribution).

In implementing the corresponding feature period, a greater number ofconsumers may be targeted (e.g., the number of consumers targeted may bean order of magnitude higher than that targeted in the pre-featureperiod, such as 30,000), and a different distribution of consumers for aparticular grouping may be targeted (such as focusing on consumers 2-4miles from the promotion, instead of selecting representative consumersin each of the values of geographic distance). So that, when sending anoffer for the deal program to the consumer (such as in a daily email),the consumer may be selected based on criteria different from selectingthe consumer during the pre-feature period.

Further, accessibility to a deal may be different in the pre-featureperiod than in the feature period. The deal may be accessible by aconsumer in the pre-feature period only if the consumer received acommunication (such as an email) that includes a link to purchase thedeal. So that, the deal is not accessible without the communication. Incontrast, the deal in the feature period may be accessible by allconsumers. For example, the consumers may access Groupon server 112 inorder to view and purchase the deal during the feature period. In thisway, the availability of the deal to the public is different in thepre-feature period than in the feature period.

FIG. 3 also illustrates a VIP period. The VIP period has the same dealfeatures used during the pre-feature period and the feature period.However, the VIP period is dissimilar to the pre-feature period and thefeature period in that the relevance features are different. Inparticular, the VIP period enables customers with a particular attribute(e.g., a status designation as a VIP) to access and/or purchase thedeal. In one embodiment, all customers may access the deal programduring the VIP period, but only customers with a VIP designation canpurchase a deal during the VIP period. In an alternate embodiment, onlycustomers with a VIP designation can access and purchase a deal duringthe VIP period. In this way, the VIP period is dissimilar to the featureperiod in that only a subset of the customers (e.g., the VIP customers)can access and/or purchase a deal from the deal program during the VIPperiod whereas all customers can access and purchase a deal from thedeal program during the feature period.

FIG. 3 further illustrates a mulligan period. The mulligan period is fora predetermined time beginning after or at the end of the featureperiod. As shown in FIG. 3, the mulligan period is the two days afterthe feature period, with the feature period end date March 8 and themulligan period being March 9 and March 10. For example, the offercommunicated to the customer may include a link (such as a hyperlink) toa datapage, as discussed above. During the feature period, the datapagemay be accessed by means other than activation of the link. Forinstance, the Groupon server 112 may store the datapage, with adesignation during the feature period of being publicly available sothat the datapage is searchable (e.g., a publicly available period inwhich any customer may search the server with results of the searchindicating the datapage). During the mulligan period, the datapage is nolonger publicly accessible (e.g., a link-activation period, which is aperiod after the publicly available period and in which the datapage isonly accessible via the server by activating the link).

The purpose for the mulligan period is to allow consumers who may havemissed the opportunity to purchase the deal during the feature period tostill be allowed to purchase the deal if the consumer still has accessto the communication that includes the link. As discussed above, theconsumer may purchase the deal during the feature period in one ofseveral ways, including purchasing the deal by searching the Grouponserver 112 or by accessing a link (included in an email) to purchase thedeal. In the event the customer has not accessed the link during thefeature period, the mulligan period enables the customer to activate thelink to purchase the deal. So that, even if the deal is no longerpublicly available on the Groupon server 112 after the feature period,the customer may still purchase the deal.

In addition, FIG. 3 further illustrates a sales enhancement period. Thesales enhancement period may be performed using the sales enhancementsystem discussed herein. The sales enhancement period, as implemented bythe sales enhancement system, is dissimilar to the feature period in oneor more ways. First, the deal program may be publicly available duringthe feature period and may not publicly available during the salesenhancement period. Second, the triggering event(s) under which a dealis offered to a consumer is different in the feature period than in thesales enhancement period. As discussed below, the sales enhancementsystem transmits an offer for a deal in response to one or moretriggering events, such as disclosed in FIGS. 4A-4B. In contrast, a dealmay be transmitted to a customer during the feature period using adifferent triggering event. For example, a customer may be designated asreceiving a periodic email (such as a daily email) with a deal. So that,the triggering event may comprise a periodic event, such as transmittingthe periodic email. The deal(s) included in the periodic email may beselected from deal programs that are currently in the feature period.

Further, the periods of the deal program have a start time/date, an endtime/date, and a length of time between the start time/date and endtime/date, such as shown in FIG. 3. For example, the VIP period isillustrated in FIG. 3 as starting on March 5 at noon, ending on March 5at midnight, and with a length of 12 hours. Similarly, the pre-featureperiod is illustrated in FIG. 3 as starting on March 4 at midnight,ending on March 5 at midnight, and with a length of 24 hours. In oneembodiment, the periods of the deal program life cycle 300 may have thesame start time/date, the same end time/date, and/or the same length oftime between the start time/date and the end time/date. In an alternateembodiment, the periods of the deal program life cycle 300 may havedifferent start time/dates, different end time/dates, and differentlengths of time between the start time/date and the end time/date.Further, the periods of the deal program life cycle 300 may at leastpartly overlap one another. For example, the VIP period overlaps withthe pre-feature period, as shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example method 400 for associating one or moredeal programs into different groupings or different collections. In oneembodiment, a deal program (which includes deal attributes) may beseparated into multiple deal programs, such as a first deal program anda second deal program (each with the same deal attributes), as shown at402. The first deal program and the second deal program may then beassociated with a first deal program collection and a second dealprogram collection, respectively, as shown at 404. Further, at 406, anamount of units may be assigned to the first deal program and the seconddeal program. For example, and described in more detail below, theamount of units assigned to each program may occur through one or moreworkflows, including a new deal workflow, a returns workflow, a breakageworkflow, a purchased inventory workflow, a now deal workflow (where a“now deal” refers a deal program that provides a specific number ofunits for a specific amount of time, where the use of each unit isconditioned on at least a consumer using the unit within specific periodof time), a perpetual deal workflow, a channel deal workflow, a nationaldeal workflow, or a local deal workflow. Finally, at 408, relevanceattributes (e.g., relevance features or criteria) may be assigned to thefirst deal program and the second deal program. Also, one distinctionbetween a “new deal” and a “now deal” is that a purpose of a “new deal”may be to promote a merchant, where the purpose of a “now deal” isusually to clear inventory, such as clearing a surplus of goods orclearing unreserved tables at a restaurant.

By separating and associating deal programs and respective components ofdeal programs into different groupings or collections, the differentsystems, such as the relevance system, the VIP system, the pre-featuresystem, the feature system, and/or the sales enhancement system have theoption to treat each grouping or collection differently. Therefore,because each grouping or collection may be treated differently (e.g.,the pre-feature deal program compilation, the VIP deal programcompilation, the feature deal program compilation, and the salesenhancement program compilation), the various systems may provide thedeal programs associated with a particular grouping or collection fordifferent periods of time, such as a longer period of time, than otherunits.

In one embodiment, for example, a deal program provider may determine toreserve 80% of a deal program's units for a first deal programcollection (such as the feature deal program collection), and 20% for asecond deal program collection (such as the sales enhancement dealprogram collection). Also, instead of arbitrarily assigning units, inanother embodiment, units may be added to or restricted from a groupingor collection based on historical information, e.g., information relatedto an amount of units already sold for a deal program. For example,after the deal provider sells 80% of a deal program's units, theprovider may add an additional 20% of units to the deal program. In sucha case, the additional 20% of units may be associated with a second dealprogram collection. In still another embodiment, units may be added toor restricted from a grouping or collection based on a predeterminedperiod to purchase or use a unit (e.g., two days, one week, one month,indefinite), and a capability to dynamically change the predeterminedperiod to purchase or use a unit, based on historical or real-timeinformation. Such historical or real-time information may include, butis not limited to, information pertaining to product or servicecategories, groups of consumers, a real-time location of a consumer,residence of a consumer, or marketing channels related to the dealprogram features. The product or service categories may include, but arenot limited to, books, audio and/or video recordings, housewares andhome repair services, groceries and food related services, health andbeauty goods or services, toys and child care services such short termcare, clothing, sporting goods and outdoor activities and services,automotive or industrial goods and services, and electronics andappliances and related maintenance services.

So that, the number of units assigned to the first deal program (such asthe feature deal program) and the second deal program (such as the salesenhancement deal program) may be determined in a variety of ways. As oneexample, if the first deal program does not have a cap or an upper limiton the units, and if 100 units are sold during the feature period (theperiod during which deals are offered from the first deal program, apredetermined percentage (such as 20%) of the units sold from the firstdeal program are assigned to the second deal program (such as the salesenhancement deal program). As another example, if the first deal program(such as the feature deal program) has a cap or an upper limit on theunits (Y units), and if X units are sold during the feature period, Y-Xunits are assigned to the second deal program (such as the salesenhancement deal program). As still another example, if the first dealprogram (such as the feature deal program) does not have a cap but onlysells X units, a predetermined percentage of the X units are assigned tothe second deal program (such as the sales enhancement program).

FIG. 4B illustrates example relevance attributes pertaining to units410, which includes, without limitation, default period(s) of time(e.g., a default period of time a unit is available for purchasing or aunit can be used, and alternative period(s) of time with respect tosubscriber activation or with respect to personalization, location ofthe subscriber, cross-marketing, or a combination thereof. FIG. 4Bfurther illustrates examples of predetermined periods pertaining torelevance attributes 420, such as an initial period for a deal program,a forgiveness period, and a reserved period for restricting theavailability of units. As discussed above, the relevance attributes andthe example periods pertaining to the relevance attributes may differfor the first deal program (associated with the first deal programcollection) and the second deal program (associated with the second dealprogram collection). In this way, even though the first deal program andthe second deal program have the same deal attributes, other attributesof the respective deal programs differ, such as the relevance attributesand the time periods associated with the relevance attributes.

FIG. 4C illustrates an example method 450 for selecting a deal programcollection. At 452, a trigger is received. Different triggers include,but are not limited to the abovementioned triggers, such as determiningthat none of the scores for the deal programs in a first deal programcollection meets a predetermined threshold. At 454, based on the triggerreceived, the first deal program collection or second deal programcollection is selected. If the first deal program collection isselected, at 456, the first deal program collection is accessed. If thesecond deal program collection is selected, at 458, the second dealprogram collection is accessed. After which, at 460, the relevancesystem examines the accessed program deal program collection in order todetermine what to send to the consumer (such as an impression or anoffer for a deal). At 462, the relevance system selects a deal programin order to transmit to the consumer an offer for a deal from the dealprogram.

A trigger may depend on the type of request received. For example, arequest by a consumer for a deal from a website, such as Groupon® server112, may trigger a selection of one of the deal program collections. Asanother example, a request by a consumer for an acceptance or use of adeal within a predetermined time period, such as acceptance or use ofthe deal in less than one day (or less than 3 hours), in one to fivedays, may trigger a selection of one of the deal program collections. Asstill another example, a request for a deal from a third party, such assearch engine system 116 utilizing search engine marketing, may triggera selection of one of the deal program collections. The request from thesearch engine system 116 may include an indication that a user (e.g.,potential consumer) selected a link from a list of Internet searchresults. As still another example, the trigger may comprise receiving arequest for a deal program utilizing an online advertising channel. Forexample, the request of the trigger can include an indication that auser selected a link in an advertisement on a webpage, where the contentof the webpage and the advertisement relate to each other (e.g.,advertisement for sporting goods on a sports news webpage). Further, thetrigger may include receiving a request for a deal program associatedwith a syndication partner. For example, the request of the trigger caninclude an indication that another deal provider partnered with the dealprovider has sent the request.

FIG. 4D describes additional triggers, including, without limitation,receiving a request for a deal program, which requests selection of adeal program based on attributes related to a deal program or units,consumer or subscriber status, measurable historical activity of theconsumer or subscriber, status or quality of a merchant, measurablehistorical activity of the merchant, any parameter or condition measuredor analyzed by the relevance system, and location of the source of therequest, such as the location of the user making the request or withrespect to location in a source webpage, email, SMS text, or voicemail.

FIG. 5 is an example method 500 for a trigger to select a deal programcollection, in which a second deal program collection is selected aftera first deal program collection has been selected. The method 500expands on 460 of FIG. 4C, where the relevance system examines theaccessed deal program collection in order to determine what to send tothe consumer. At 502, the relevance system scores and ranks a dealprogram of the selected deal program collection. The score may beindicative of a prediction that a consumer will accept a deal that isoffered. The indication of acceptance of the deal may take one ofseveral forms, such as the conversion rate (the rate by which a useraccepts a deal that is offered or the number of purchases of the dealdivided by the number of times the deal is offered to users) or anothertype of relevance score. At 504, the relevance system determines whetherone of the scores of a deal program from the first deal programcollection meets a predetermined threshold, such as a minimum score. Ifnone of the scores of the deal program of the first collection meets orexceeds the threshold, at 506, the second deal program collection isselected. As discussed above, one example of a trigger to select aparticular deal program collection is the failure to find a deal from adeal program in another deal program collection with a sufficient score.At 508, the relevance system scores and ranks the deal program of thesecond collection at 506.

Another example of a trigger for selection of a deal program collectionincludes receiving a request for a deal from a new customer. One dealprogram collection, such as the long term deal program collection, mayhave a greater number of deal programs associated with it. The greaternumber of deal programs may increase the likelihood of finding a dealfrom a deal program in the collection with a higher conversion rate (orlikelihood that the new customer will purchase the deal offered). Forexample, the system will be more likely to find an acceptable deal tooffer from a deal program collection with 10,000 deals rather than adeal program collection with 100 deals. The system may determine in oneof several ways whether a request for a deal is from a new user. Inresponse to the determination, the system may access a specific one ofthe deal program collections. In this way, in response to the systemdetermining that a request for a deal is from a new customer, the systemmay access the particular deal program collection (such as the long termdeal program collection).

Yet another example of a trigger for selection of a deal programcollection includes a potential upsell to a customer. Upselling is atechnique by which to induce a customer to purchase an upgrade oradd-on. In one embodiment, in response to a customer purchasing a deal,the sales enhancement system may determine the potential for an upsellto the customer. In response to the determination, the sales enhancementsystem may access one of the deal program collections in order to offera second deal. The second deal may be related to the deal recentlypurchased by the customer. Alternatively, or in addition, the seconddeal may have a high conversion rate in the interest of enticing thecustomer to purchase the second deal. In a more specific embodiment, inresponse to a customer purchasing a deal from a particular deal programcollection (such as the first deal collection), the sales enhancementsystem may determine the potential for an upsell to the customer from adifferent deal program collection (such as the second deal collection)by searching the different deal program collection for a related dealand offering the related deal to the customer. For example, if thecustomer purchases a deal from a first program collection (which mayinclude deals that are in the feature period), the sales enhancementsystem may select a deal from the second deal program collection tooffer to the consumer.

Still another example of a trigger for selection of a deal programcollection includes sending a batch email. A set of consumers may bedesignated to receive an email at predetermined intervals, such asdaily. The email for the set of consumers may be sent in a batch and mayinclude one or more offers for deals that are selected based on one ormore attributes of the respective consumer. In preparation for sendingthe batch email, one of the deal program collections may be selected.After which, the deal programs in the selected deal program collectionmay be analyzed in order to determine which deal program to offer therespective consumer in the email.

Yet another example of a trigger for selection of a deal programcollection includes a request for a deal responsive to search enginemarketing. For example, the consumer may input search terms into asearch engine in order to search for a particular deal, such as a sushideal. The search terms may be in the form of a text query. The searchengine displays the results of the search. Typically, the search enginehas certain keywords, such as “sushi,” that is mapped to anadvertisement group, such as “sushi deals.” The advertisement group isthen used to display an ad. If the consumer clicks on the ad, the searchengine may send the advertisement group and the general location of theuser (as determined by the search engine) to the relevance system. Inturn, the relevance system may map the advertisement group to a categoryor subcategory. For example, the advertisement group “sushi deals” maybe mapped to the subcategory “sushi restaurants”. In response toreceiving the communication from the search engine, a specific dealprogram collection may be selected. In particular, the long term dealprogram collection, with the large number of deal programs associatedtherewith, may be used to respond to the communication from the searchengine.

Still another example of a trigger comprises whether the customer hasrequested acceptance for an expired deal. As discussed above, when anoffer is sent to a customer, the customer is notified of a predeterminedamount of time in which to accept the offer. If the customer attempts toaccept the offer after the notified predetermined amount of time inwhich to accept the offer (such as two days after sending an offer for adeal), the request for purchase of an expired deal may be considered atrigger for a particular deal collection. In particular, if the dealoffered to the customer is the first deal program in the first dealprogram collection, and if the customer attempts to accept the offerafter the expiration of the offer and/or after the expiration of theperiod during which offers may be made by the first deal program, thesales enhancement system is configured to treat the request foraccepting an expired deal from the first deal program (in the first dealprogram collection) as a trigger to search for another deal program inthe second deal program collection (e.g., to determine whether thesecond deal program collection has the second deal program, which hasthe same or similar deal attributes as the first deal program). So that,even if the offer for a deal from the first deal program has expired,the customer may still accept the offer (if the sales enhancement systemhas located the second deal program in the second deal programcollection with the same deal features as the first deal program).

Aside from threshold values, the relevance system or the salesenhancement system may assign to a deal program features that include,without limitation, an indication of deal programs that relate to eachother, an expected shelf life of a unit (e.g., a duration of time inwhich a unit sells at a predetermined acceptable rate), an expectedquantity of units sold per deal program, an expected revenue per dealprogram, a margin per unit of a deal program, and an expiration date ofunits of a deal program. Each one of these features may be used on itsown or as a factor to determine the rankings of deal programs.

FIG. 6A illustrates an example method 600 for transmitting an impressionof a deal program. At 602, upon selection of a deal program from aparticular collection at 462, determine a period of time for consumer toaccept an offer for a deal based upon deal program and/or particulardeal program collection. As discussed above, the time period for theconsumer to accept an offer may be an attribute of the deal program ormay be an attribute of the deal program collection that the deal programis associated with. After determining the period of time for theconsumer to accept the offer, at 604, an impression of a deal offer istransmitted with an indication of the determined period of time for theconsumer to accept the offer of the deal.

FIG. 6B illustrates an example method 650 for processing a receivedresponse. At 652, the response is received. In one aspect, the responsemay include an indication of acceptance of the offer. At 654, it isdetermined whether the response was received within the time period forthe consumer to accept the offer. If so, at 656, the acceptance of thedeal is processed. After which, at 658, the information in the responsemay optionally be used to rank deal programs in the deal programcollections. In particular, information in the response (such as anamount of units purchased, a date and time of purchase, and/or alocation of the consumer during purchase) may be used as a factor inranking deal programs of a deal program collection.

An impression store may be used to determine whether the response wasreceived within the time period for the consumer to accept the offer. Asdiscussed above, a deal program may have different periods of timeassociated with it, such as a period during which deals may be offeredfrom the deal program and such as a period in which a consumer maypurchase or accept the deal after receipt of the offer. So that, afterthe deal is offered to the consumer, the consumer has a predeterminedperiod of time (such as 1 or 2 days) in which to purchase or to acceptthe deal after transmittal of the offer. This period of time foracceptance may be different that the period of time during which dealsmay be offered from the deal program.

The impression store may be used to track the impressions or offers sentto consumers. The impression store may be stored, for example, in userinformation database 208. The impression store may track impressions bystoring the following three items: an identifier of the consumer thatreceived the offer (or impression) (such as an email address, telephonenumber, etc.); an identification of the deal program subject to theoffer; and a time when the offer was transmitted (or when the consumerfirst viewed the offer). Optionally, the impression store may store thecontext of the impression (such as whether the offer was transmitted inan e-mail, a website communication, etc., when the offer was issuedrelative to the life cycle of the deal program (e.g., at the beginningof the time period when the deal program offered deals, at the end ofthe time period when the deal program offered deals, etc.).

The impression store may comprise a nested hash structure or arelational database. The information in the impression store may be usedin one of several ways. First, the information may be used to determinewhether a deal is still available to the consumer for purchase oracceptance. If the time when the offer was transmitted (or first viewed)is less than the time period in which to accept the offer (such as 2days), the consumer may still accept the deal. If the time when theoffer was transmitted (or first viewed) is more than the time period inwhich to accept the offer (such as 2 days), under certain circumstances,the consumer may not accept the deal. Alternatively, in the event thatthe consumer wishes to accept an offer that is outside of the timeperiod in which to accept the deal offer, an alternative period, such asthe forgiveness period, discussed above, may give the consumer anextended time period in which to accept the offer.

Second, the impression store may track the impressions or offers fordeals transmitted to the consumers. In particular, the impression storemay identify which consumers have seen what offers for a product/serviceand when (and potentially which what offers have been accepted). In thisway, the relevance system may access the impression store in order toavoid offering the same product/service in the future.

The deal program collections may be populated in one of several ways.FIG. 7 illustrates several example workflows that are used to populatethe deal program collections. Origin determination 226 a or 226 b,discussed previously in FIGS. 2A-2B, are configured to determine whichof the following workflows 700 to execute including: a new deal workflow702, a returns workflow 704, a breakage workflow 706, a purchasedinventory workflow 708, a now deal workflow 710, a perpetual dealworkflow 712, a channel deal workflow 714, and a national or local dealworkflow 716. The workflows illustrated in FIG. 7 are merely forillustration purposes. Further, the workflows illustrated in FIG. 7 mayuse the deal analytical engine 200 and/or the sales enhancementanalytical engine 234 a or 234 b, which may be tailored to each of thespecific origins. Alternatively, one, some, or all of the workflows mayhave assigned to them a respective deal analytical engine.

A new deal workflow 702 comprises a workflow that determines how todistribute the units of a new deal program amongst the different dealcollections. As discussed above, the units from a new deal program maybe distributed to a first deal program in the first deal programcollection and a second deal program in the second deal programcollection based on a predetermined percentage. A returns workflow 704is discussed in more detail with respect to FIG. 9. A breakage workflow706 is discussed in more detail with respect to FIG. 10. A purchasedinventory workflow 708 is a workflow in which inventory (such as apredetermined number of units) may be purchased from an original dealprogram. This is one of the examples in which deal programs in the dealprogram collections may be based on an original deal program. Aperpetual deal workflow 712 may indicate a workflow in which a dealprogram may perpetually be populated in a deal program collection. Achannel deal workflow 714 may include a deal program for a specificchannel (or type of deal). As discussed above, deal programs may becompiled or aggregated into different deal program collections. Forexample, a deal program directed to a specific channel (or type of deal)may have its own deal program collection (so that different dealchannels, such as restaurants, goods, etc., have their own channels.Alternatively, deal programs may be compiled within a single dealprogram collection. A national or local deal workflow 716 may includepopulating different deal program collections of varying geographicscope. For example, a deal program collection may be directed tonational deals (in which consumers are targeted for deal programs in thecollection regardless of the consumers' location within the nation). Asanother example, a deal program collection may be directed to localregion deals (in which consumers are targeted for deal programs in thecollection only if the consumers' location is within the local region).Alternatively, deal programs directed to the national deals or to thelocal deals may be associated with a single deal program collection.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow diagram of an example returns workflow 704. At802, the sales enhancement system receives a customer return of a unitof a deal program. At 804, the sales enhancement system determineswhether to reserve that unit or leave it unrestricted based onconditions of a respective contract or a predetermine condition(s).According to the determination, at 906, the unit may be leftunrestricted. Otherwise, at 908, the unit is restricted and reserved.The unit may be reserved, for example, by reassigning the unit from afirst deal program in the first deal program collection to a second dealprogram in the second deal program collection. After reassignment, aunit in the second deal program can be associated with attributes of thesecond deal program (such as the relevance attributes of the second dealprogram), so that the attributes of the second deal program are met inorder to transmit a related impression of the reassigned unit. Also, thenumber of returned units associated with the second deal programcollection may be capped, where the determination on the cap on returns,as well as any determination described herein, may be determined basedon historical information or real-time information, by the salesenhancement system, the relevance system, or a combination thereof.Further, in this workflow and others, restricting a unit may include,without limitation, making an impression related to the unitundiscoverable by a majority of consumers and only discoverable to apredetermined group of consumers. The predetermined group can be highlypersonalized, or broad enough to include a large number of consumers.For example, a broad grouping may include all consumers of apredetermined sex that reside in a predetermined geographic region.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow diagram of an example breakage workflow 706,which may be similar to a workflow for units unsold by the deal provideror a workflow for units unused by a consumer within a predeterminedperiod of the deal program. At 902, the sales enhancement systemreceives a notification of an unsold, unused, broken unit in a firstpredetermined period of the deal program. At 904, the sales enhancementsystem determines whether to reserve and restrict the unit for a secondpredetermined duration of time or deactivate the unit, based onconditions of a respective contract or a predetermine condition(s). At906, the sales enhancement system deactivates the unit, or at 908reserves and restricts the unit for the second predetermined period. Forexample, a coupon (or reference to the coupon) unused within apredetermined period to use the coupon (e.g., breakage of a coupon) canbe associated with the second deal program collection. Also, like thereturns workflow, the sales enhancement system may limit the number ofunused, unsold, or broken units associated with the second deal programcollection by a predetermined cap on unused, unsold, or broken units,respectively.

In still another embodiment, a method and apparatus is disclosed. Themethod includes: storing in a first deal program collection a first setof units associated with a deal program for a first predeterminedperiod; storing in a second deal program collection a second set ofunits associated with the deal program for a second predeterminedperiod; setting parameters associated with the first set of units;setting parameters associated with the second set of units; transmittingan impression associated with the first set of units to any consumerduring the first predetermined period, based on the parameters setassociated with the first set of units; and transmitting an impressionassociated with the second set of units to a predetermined consumerduring the second predetermined period, based on the parameters setassociated with the second set of units. The apparatus includes thesales enhancement system configured to include the functionality of themethod.

FIG. 10 illustrates a general computer system 1000, programmable to be aspecific computer system 1000, which can represent any server, computeror component, such as the consumer 1 (104), the consumer N (106), themerchant 1 (108), the merchant M (110), the Groupon® server 112, therelevance system 114 a or 114 b, the VIP system 144 a or 144 b, thepre-feature system 146 a or 146 b, the feature system 148 a or 148 b,the sales enhancement system 150 a or 150 b, the search engine system116, and the 3rd party server 118. The computer system 1000 may includean ordered listing of a set of instructions 1002 that may be executed tocause the computer system 1000 to perform any one or more of the methodsor computer-based functions disclosed herein. The computer system 1000can operate as a stand-alone device or can be connected, e.g., using thenetwork 102, to other computer systems or peripheral devices.

In a networked deployment, the computer system 1000 can operate in thecapacity of a server or as a client-user computer in a server-clientuser network environment, or as a peer computer system in a peer-to-peer(or distributed) network environment. The computer system 1000 can alsobe implemented as or incorporated into various devices, such as apersonal computer or a mobile computing device capable of executing aset of instructions 1002 that specify actions to be taken by thatmachine, including and not limited to, accessing the Internet or Webthrough any form of browser. Further, each of the systems described caninclude any collection of sub-systems that individually or jointlyexecute a set, or multiple sets, of instructions to perform one or morecomputer functions.

The computer system 1000 can include a memory 1004 on a bus 1020 forcommunicating information. Code operable to cause the computer system toperform any of the acts or operations described herein can be stored inthe memory 1004. The memory 1004 can be a random-access memory,read-only memory, programmable memory, hard disk drive or any other typeof volatile or non-volatile memory or storage device.

The computer system 1000 can include a processor 1008, such as a centralprocessing unit (CPU) and/or a graphics processing unit (GPU). Theprocessor 1008 can include one or more general processors, digitalsignal processors, application specific integrated circuits, fieldprogrammable gate arrays, digital circuits, optical circuits, analogcircuits, combinations thereof, or other now known or later-developeddevices for analyzing and processing data. The processor 1008 canimplement the set of instructions 1002 or other software program, suchas manually programmed or computer-generated code for implementinglogical functions. The logical function or any system element describedcan, among other functions, process and convert an analog data sourcesuch as an analog electrical, audio, or video signal, or a combinationthereof, to a digital data source for audio-visual purposes or otherdigital processing purposes such as for compatibility for computerprocessing.

The computer system 1000 can also include a disk or optical drive unit1015. The disk drive unit 1015 can include a computer-readable medium1040 in which one or more sets of instructions 1002, e.g., software, canbe embedded. Further, the instructions 1002 can perform one or more ofthe operations as described herein. The instructions 1002 can residecompletely, or at least partially, within the memory 1004 or within theprocessor 1008 during execution by the computer system 1000.Accordingly, the databases 206 or 260 can be stored in the memory 1004or the disk unit 1015.

The memory 1004 and the processor 1008 also can includecomputer-readable media as discussed above. A “computer-readablemedium,” “computer-readable storage medium,” “machine readable medium,”“propagated-signal medium,” or “signal-bearing medium” can include anydevice that has, stores, communicates, propagates, or transportssoftware for use by or in connection with an instruction executablesystem, apparatus, or device. The machine-readable medium canselectively be, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device,or propagation medium.

Additionally, the computer system 1000 can include an input device 1025,such as a keyboard or mouse, configured for a user to interact with anyof the components of system 1000. It can further include a display 1070,such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube (CRT), or anyother display suitable for conveying information. The display 1070 canact as an interface for the user to see the functioning of the processor1008, or specifically as an interface with the software stored in thememory 1004 or the drive unit 1015.

The computer system 1000 can include a communication interface 1036 thatenables communications via the communications network 102. The network102 can include wired networks, wireless networks, or combinationsthereof. The communication interface 1036 network can enablecommunications via any number of communication standards, such as802.11, 802.17, 802.20, WiMax, 802.15.4, cellular telephone standards,or other communication standards, as discussed above. Simply because oneof these standards is listed does not mean any one is preferred, as anynumber of these standards can never actually be adopted in a commercialproduct.

Further, the relevance system 114 a and sales enhancement system 150 b,as depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B, respectively, may comprise one computersystem or multiple computer systems (each working in concert to providethe functionality described in FIGS. 2A and 2B). Block diagrams ofdifferent aspects of the system, including FIGS. 1A-1B and 2A-2B may beimplemented using the computer functionality disclosed in FIG. 10.Further, the flow diagrams illustrated in FIGS. 4A-9 may use computerreadable instructions that are executed by one or more processors inorder to implement the functionality disclosed.

The present disclosure contemplates a computer-readable medium thatincludes instructions or receives and executes instructions responsiveto a propagated signal, so that a device connected to a network cancommunicate voice, video, audio, images or any other data over thenetwork. Further, the instructions can be transmitted or received overthe network via a communication interface. The communication interfacecan be a part of the processor or can be a separate component. Thecommunication interface can be created in software or can be a physicalconnection in hardware. The communication interface can be configured toconnect with a network, external media, the display, or any othercomponents in system, or combinations thereof. The connection with thenetwork can be a physical connection, such as a wired Ethernetconnection or can be established wirelessly as discussed below. In thecase of a service provider server, the service provider server cancommunicate with users through the communication interface.

The computer-readable medium can be a single medium, or thecomputer-readable medium can be a single medium or multiple media, suchas a centralized or distributed database, or associated caches andservers that store one or more sets of instructions. The term“computer-readable medium” can also include any medium that can becapable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions forexecution by a processor or that can cause a computer system to performany one or more of the methods or operations disclosed herein.

The computer-readable medium can include a solid-state memory such as amemory card or other package that houses one or more non-volatileread-only memories. The computer-readable medium also can be a randomaccess memory or other volatile re-writable memory. Additionally, thecomputer-readable medium can include a magneto-optical or opticalmedium, such as a disk or tapes or other storage device to capturecarrier wave signals such as a signal communicated over a transmissionmedium. A digital file attachment to an email or other self-containedinformation archive or set of archives can be considered a distributionmedium that can be a tangible storage medium. The computer-readablemedium is preferably a tangible storage medium. Accordingly, thedisclosure can be considered to include any one or more of acomputer-readable medium or a distribution medium and other equivalentsand successor media, in which data or instructions can be stored.

Alternatively or in addition, dedicated hardware implementations, suchas application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arraysand other hardware devices, can be constructed to implement one or moreof the methods described herein. Applications that can include theapparatus and systems of various embodiments can broadly include avariety of electronic and computer systems. One or more embodimentsdescribed herein can implement functions using two or more specificinterconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and datasignals that can be communicated between and through the modules, or asportions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Accordingly, thepresent system can encompass software, firmware, and hardwareimplementations.

The methods described herein may be implemented by software programsexecutable by a computer system. Further, implementations may includedistributed processing, component/object distributed processing, andparallel processing. Alternatively or in addition, virtual computersystem processing may be constructed to implement one or more of themethods or functionality as described herein.

Although components and functions are described that may be implementedin particular embodiments with reference to particular standards andprotocols, the components and functions are not limited to suchstandards and protocols. For example, standards for Internet and otherpacket switched network transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, andHTTP) represent examples of the state of the art. Such standards areperiodically superseded by faster or more efficient equivalents havingessentially the same functions. Accordingly, replacement standards andprotocols having the same or similar functions as those disclosed hereinare considered equivalents thereof.

The illustrations described herein are intended to provide a generalunderstanding of the structure of various embodiments. The illustrationsare not intended to serve as a complete description of all of theelements and features of apparatus, processors, and systems that utilizethe structures or methods described herein. Many other embodiments canbe apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the disclosure.Other embodiments can be utilized and derived from the disclosure, suchthat structural and logical substitutions and changes can be madewithout departing from the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, theillustrations are merely representational and cannot be drawn to scale.Certain proportions within the illustrations may be exaggerated, whileother proportions may be minimized. Accordingly, the disclosure and thefigures are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

The above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, andnot restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all suchmodifications, enhancements, and other embodiments, which fall withinthe true spirit and scope of the description. Thus, to the maximumextent allowed by law, the scope is to be determined by the broadestpermissible interpretation of the following claims and theirequivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoingdetailed description.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system for managing consumeraccessibility to a deal program as the deal program progresses througheach of a plurality of time periods, the system comprising: a memorystoring processor-executable instructions; and a processor incommunication with the memory, where the processor is configured toexecute the processor-executable instructions to: segment the dealprogram into a plurality of deal program portions, including at least afirst deal program portion and a second deal program portion, each ofthe deal program portions comprising particular characteristicsassociated with a particular time period, wherein each of the dealprogram portions configured for use in a respective time period, andwherein each of the plurality of deal program portions configured to beassociated with particular deal program collections; associate the firstdeal program portion during a first time period with a first dealprogram collection, wherein the first deal program collection comprisesa compilation of different deal programs, each configured for use duringthe first time period, wherein each deal program collection isconfigured to communicate via a particular class of electroniccorrespondence; during the first time period, determine one or more dealunits from the first deal program collection to offer to a consumer, theconsumer being one of one or more consumers, the one or more consumersselected in multiple groupings, the multiple groupings exhibiting apre-determined distribution of values for an attribute; provide, duringthe first time period, an impression associated with one or more dealunits from the first deal program collection via a first particularclass of electronic correspondence, the first particular class ofelectronic correspondence being at least one of a text message or email,wherein the first particular class of electronic correspondencecomprises a link such that activation of the link enables an electronicdevice to access an associated data page and provide payment of a feeassociated with acceptance of an offer provided in the impression, theimpression associated with the one or more deal units from the firstdeal program collection only discoverable to a predetermined grouping ofconsumers associated with a value for the attribute; determine toreserve a predetermined portion of a number of available deal units forthe first deal program collection; dynamically modify, in real-time, thepredetermined portion of the number of available deal units for thefirst deal program collection by adding to or restricting deals from thefirst deal program collection to a limited grouping of consumers basedon a value of the attribute of each of the one or more consumers;receive a trigger, the trigger being, first, a reception of informationindicative of a selection of the impression, the impression associatedwith the first deal program from the first deal program collection, andsubsequently, a determination that the reception of the informationindicative of the selection of the impression is outside an expirationtime period; wherein the first time period is a time period before thereception of the trigger; upon the reception of the trigger, associatethe first deal program during a second time period with a second dealprogram collection, the second time period being different from thefirst time period, the first deal program collection being differentthan the second deal program collection; and subsequent to the receptionof the trigger: first, identify one or more deal units, available via asecond deal program portion, to offer to the consumer; and during thesecond time period, provide an impression associated with one or moredeal units from the second deal program collection via a secondparticular class of electronic correspondence, the second particularclass of electronic correspondence being a searchable web page, theimpression associated with the one or more deal units from the seconddeal program collection now discoverable to a larger grouping ofconsumers, via the searchable web page, and not limited to the limitedgrouping of consumers.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the triggerfurther comprises receiving a request by the consumer for an acceptanceor use of a deal within a predetermined time period.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein, upon reception of the trigger, the processor isconfigured to search for an upsell deal related to the impression. 4.The system of claim 1, wherein the trigger further comprises a purchaseof a deal from the first deal program collection; and, in response tothe purchase, the processor is configured to search for an upsell dealrelated to the purchased deal.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein theprocessor is further configured to receive a request for a deal from anew consumer; and, in response to the request, the processor isconfigured to search the second deal program collection for deals tooffer the new consumer.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the triggerfor the first deal program is different than for the second deal programcollection.
 7. The system of claim 5, wherein the trigger furthercomprises determining to send a batch email.
 8. A method for managingconsumer accessibility to a deal program as the deal program progressesthrough each of a plurality of time periods, the method comprising:segmenting the deal program into a plurality of deal program portions,including at least a first deal program portion and a second dealprogram portion, each of the deal program portions comprising particularcharacteristics associated with a particular time period, wherein eachof the deal program portions configured for use in a respective timeperiod, and wherein each of the plurality of deal program portionsconfigured to be associated with particular deal program collections;associating, in one or more memories, the first deal program portionduring a first time period with a first deal program collection, whereinthe first deal program collection comprises a compilation of differentdeal programs, each configured for use during the first time period,wherein each deal program collection is configured to communicate via aparticular class of electronic correspondence; during the first timeperiod, determining, via a relevance engine, one or more deal units fromthe first deal program collection to offer to a consumer, the consumerbeing one of one or more consumers, the one or more consumers selectedin multiple groupings, the multiple groupings exhibiting apre-determined distribution of values for an attribute; providing,during the first time period, an impression associated with one or moredeal units from the first deal program collection via a first particularclass of electronic correspondence, the first particular class ofelectronic correspondence being at least one of a text message or email,wherein the first particular class of electronic correspondencecomprises a link such that activation of the link enables an electronicdevice to access an associated data page and provide payment of a feeassociated with acceptance of an offer provided in the impression, theimpression associated with the one or more deal units from the firstdeal program collection only discoverable to a predetermined grouping ofconsumers associated with a value for the attribute; determining toreserve a predetermined portion of a number of available deal units forthe first deal program collection; dynamically modifying, in real-time,the predetermined portion of the number of available deal units for thefirst deal program collection by adding to or restricting deals from thefirst deal program collection to a limited grouping of customers basedon a value of the attribute of each of the one or more consumers;receiving a trigger, the trigger being, first, a reception ofinformation indicative of a selection of the impression, the impressionassociated with the first deal program from the first deal programcollection, and subsequently, a determination that the reception of theinformation indicative of the selection of the impression is outside anexpiration time period; wherein the first time period is a time periodbefore the reception of the trigger; upon the reception of the trigger,associating the first deal program during a second time period with asecond deal program collection, the second time period being differentfrom the first time period, the first deal program collection beingdifferent than the second deal program collection; and subsequent to thereception of the trigger: first, identifying one or more deal units,available via a second deal program portion, to offer to the consumer;and providing, during the second time period, an impression associatedwith one or more deal units from the second deal program collection viaa second particular class of electronic correspondence, the secondparticular class of electronic correspondence being a searchable webpage, the impression associated with the one or more deal units from thesecond deal program collection now discoverable to a larger grouping ofconsumers, via the searchable web page, and not limited to the limitedgrouping of consumers.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the triggerfurther comprises receiving a request by the consumer for an acceptanceor use of a deal within a predetermined time period.
 10. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising, upon reception of the trigger, searchingfor an upsell deal related to the impression.
 11. The method of claim 8,wherein the trigger further comprises a purchase of a deal from thefirst deal program collection; and in response to the purchase,searching for an upsell deal related to the purchased deal.
 12. Themethod of claim 8, further comprising receiving a request for a dealfrom a new consumer; and in response to the request, searching thesecond deal program collection for deals to offer the new consumer. 13.The method of claim 8, wherein the trigger for the first deal programcollection is different than for the second deal program collection. 14.The method of claim 12, wherein the trigger further comprisesdetermining to send a batch email.
 15. A computer program product,stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprisinginstructions that when executed on one or more computers cause the oneor more computers to perform operations implementing management ofconsumer accessibility to a deal program as the deal program progressesthrough each of a plurality of time periods, the operations comprising:segmenting the deal program into a plurality of deal program portions,including at least a first deal program portion and a second dealprogram portion, each of the deal program portions comprising particularcharacteristics associated with a particular time period, wherein eachof the deal program portions configured for use in a respective timeperiod, and wherein each of the plurality of deal program portionsconfigured to be associated with particular deal program collections;associating, in one or more memories, the first deal program portionduring a first time period with a first deal program collection, whereinthe first deal program collection comprises a compilation of differentdeal programs, each configured for use during the first time period,wherein each deal program collection is configured to communicate via aparticular class of electronic correspondence; during the first timeperiod, determining, via a relevance engine, one or more deal units fromthe first deal program collection to offer to a consumer, the consumerbeing one of one or more consumers, the one or more consumers selectedin multiple groupings, the multiple groupings exhibiting apre-determined distribution of values for an attribute; providing,during the first time period, an impression associated with one or moredeal units from the first deal program collection via a first particularclass of electronic correspondence, the first particular class ofelectronic correspondence being at least one of a text message or email,wherein the first particular class of electronic correspondencecomprises a link such that activation of the link enables an electronicdevice to access an associated data page and provide payment of a feeassociated with acceptance of an offer provided in the impression, theimpression associated with the one or more deal units from the firstdeal program collection only discoverable to a predetermined grouping ofconsumers associated with a value for the attribute; determining toreserve a predetermined portion of a number of available deal units forthe first deal program collection; dynamically modifying, in real-time,the predetermined portion of the number of available deal units for thefirst deal program collection by adding to or restricting deals from thefirst deal program collection to a limited grouping of customers basedon a value of the attribute of each of the one or more consumers;receiving a trigger, the trigger being, first, a reception ofinformation indicative of a selection of the impression, the impressionassociated with the first deal program from the first deal programcollection, and subsequently, a determination that the reception of theinformation indicative of the selection of the impression is outside anexpiration time period; wherein the first time period is a time periodbefore the reception of the trigger; upon reception of the trigger,associating the first deal program during a second time period with asecond deal program collection, the second time period being differentfrom the first time period, the first deal program collection beingdifferent than the second deal program collection; and subsequent to thereception of the trigger: first, identifying one or more deal units,available via a second deal program portion, to offer to the consumer;and providing, during the second time period, an impression associatedwith one or more deal units from the second deal program collection viaa second particular class of electronic correspondence, the secondparticular class of electronic correspondence being a searchable webpage, the impression associated with the one or more deal units from thesecond deal program collection now discoverable to a larger grouping ofconsumers, via the searchable web page, and not limited to the limitedgrouping of consumers.
 16. The computer program product of claim 15,wherein the trigger further comprises receiving a request by theconsumer for an acceptance or use of a deal within a predetermined timeperiod.
 17. The computer program product of claim 15, furthercomprising, upon reception of the trigger, searching for an upsell dealrelated to the impression.
 18. The computer program product of claim 15,wherein the trigger further comprises a purchase of a deal from thefirst deal program collection; and in response to the purchase,searching for an upsell deal related to the purchased deal.
 19. Thecomputer program product of claim 15, further comprising receiving arequest for a deal from a new consumer; and in response to the request,searching the second deal program collection for deals to offer the newconsumer.
 20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein thetrigger for the first deal program collection is different than for thesecond deal program collection.